Bristol UKIP donor’s wife “had help to remain in the UK”

Bristol businessman Aaron Banks with UKIP leader Nigel Farage

THE Russian-born wife of a Bristol businessman who hit the headlines when it emerged he had donated £1 million to UKIP was allegedly helped to stay in Britain by a disgraced MP.

Katya Banks, who is married to Arron Banks and lives in Tockington, divorced her first husband – a Portsmouth merchant seaman – after just three months.

According to national newspaper reports, Mrs Banks – formerly known as Ekaterina Paderina – faced questions over the validity of her marriage to Eric Butler after she arrived in Britain from Ekaterinburg in eastern Russia on a student visa in the 1990s.

Mr Butler told reporters he fell in love with Miss Paderina despite the fact that he was more than twice her age but the authorities suspected it was a sham marriage.

He was introduced to MP Mike Hancock through a restaurant owner who had a Russian girlfriend and was promised that he would help to get everything sorted.

Mr Hancock, who is now an Independent MP and has a reputation for close links with women from Eastern Europe in their 20s and 30s, denied at the time that he helped Miss Paderina. There is no suggestion they had an improper relationship.

Bridget Rowe, spokeswoman for UKIP, said if Miss Paderina had gone to her local MP she would have done so for help as a constituent. Ms Rowe said: “Isn’t that what MPs are there for?”

Mr Hancock was also facing questions at the time over his Russian parliamentary aide Katia Zatuliveter who MI5 suspected of espionage but she was cleared two years later of passing secrets to Moscow and allowed to stay in Britain.

Mr Hancock used to be a Liberal Democrat MP who formally resigned from the party two weeks ago after he admitted inappropriate behaviour with a woman who is known only as “Annie”.

Miss Paderina, 38, married Mr Banks in November 2001 and is now known as Katya Banks.

She is aspiring to be an actress and model, offering herself for assignments on a modelling website.

She says: “I am starting acting, and looking for photographers to help me update my portfolio on a TFP arrangement (the model gives her time free of charge in exchange for prints).

“I am based near Thornbury Village, Bristol, but willing to travel.

“I am fun and friendly with an extensive, glamorous wardrobe and a large house which could be used for location shoots.

“I will not do nudes.”

In 2008, the couple advertised on a website for an au pair aged over 23 from Eastern Europe for six months to help with three children aged three to nine for six months. They were offering £100 for working a 35 to 40 hour week. The National Minimum Wage six years ago was £5.73 an hour for adults aged 22 and over. But UKIP spokeswoman Ms Rowe said £100 a week was not below the minimum wage in 2008 if it is taken into account that the post was a live-in position with food and accommodation included.

The Bristol Post made efforts to speak to Mrs Banks and Mr Hancock yesterday but neither were available for comment.

Mr Banks said on television that he was prepared to stand as a UKIP candidate in Thornbury and Yate, the constituency where he lives.

As reported in yesterday’s Bristol Post, the former Conservative donor had been intending to give the anti-EU party £100,000 – but dramatically upped his donation after former Tory leader William Hague dismissed him as “someone we haven’t heard of”.

Bristol Post

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